yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

This piece finds place in TERRASCAPE , September 2013 issue. Which are the interesting places to visit in north-east India? What is the best time to visit them? Does wildlife occur in forests there? Are people there friendly? These were amongst the questions I have faced more than once. My first response has, on most occasions, been that there is nothing like north-east India. In other words it is incorrect to paint the entire region with the same brush; more so, when it has been long acknowledged to culturally and linguistically among the richest and most diverse regions in Asia.  I feel lucky to have enjoyed life at two amazing places in the region over a period of eight years. This is more on account of its amazing people than its abundant natural resource wealth. These two places, Baghmara (Meghalaya) and Saiha (Mizoram), I share with the readers ahead. Baghmara gets its name from a leader having slain a tiger ( bagh ) long time ago, while Saiha in Mizo language means...

Once upon a time comes a movie that makes you fall in love went the tagline of 'Lamhe' (happily saw  it few times with dadi ) and once upon a time comes an email - a response to what you write - that makes you feel warm, happy of your writing and the ability to make that connect and of course leaves you craving to go 'there' again . .  It talks of Lawngtlai - lights of which I saw from my room (near the Saiha Helipad) each evening. Initially I used to get irritated at Lawngtlai having electricity and my having to see it from the hill opposite that lay covered in sleepy darkness - but gradually started loving it - a bright shining necklace worn by the hill. The forests of Lawngtlai (along the Aizawl - Saiha road) where I first saw civets on a tired evening and also rats during moutam (bamboo flowering); of course the rats scared me. .  Our trips to Ngengpui Wls and Phawngpui (Blue Mountain) NP were possible only because of Pu Tlana. He then stayed in t...